Nunya Lab recently held its first Mercredi Talks since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Togo
Friday, 26 February 2021 18:11 
(Togo First) - Last Wednesday, business experts, young entrepreneurs, and startups incubated by Nunya Lab gathered for the Mercredi Talk. The event had for a theme ICT opportunities for Togolese startups.
The Talks, the first edition this year and also the first since the pandemic broke out in the country, was hosted by Emefa Kpegba, MD E-Technopole, and Edeh Dona ETCHRI, founder of E-Agribusiness and E-Agrisky.
The two experts who are well known in the tech environment in Togo shared lessons they learned as entrepreneurs, mentioning resilience, perseverance, and courage as key qualities to succeed.
ICT, Tech, and training
More importantly, the goal of the event was to introduce young entrepreneurs to opportunities available in the tech industry, leveraging new tools like Big Data, AI, Blockchain, and cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin especially which has gained fame in recent years).
The two hosts in this regard stressed the need for training and skill acquisition for startuppers.
“Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, what to do with those? (...) First of all, we need training, it’s imperative,” said Kpegba, who also happens to be a data scientist and an IT engineer.
“As youth, if we want to innovate we need to get training (...) There are free courses online; all you need is an internet connection (...) there are even wifi spaces where you can easily access the web,” she added.
Moreover, in terms of opportunities, to create value and transform, a given community requires “reading the latest news revealing innovations, and learning how to match what worked elsewhere to Togolese needs and realities.”
Opportunities
For his part, Donah Etchri declared: We missed the industrial revolution but we now have the chance to catch up with the others with the digital revolution. According to the young entrepreneur, the objective should be to find “solutions to our challenges, solutions which can serve our communities.”
He then added that there are many opportunities available, “be it in the health, agriculture, tourism, and event sectors.”
To close the talks, both hosts recommended the Togolese youth to study success stories, both within and outside Togolese borders, and use the data obtained to tackle local issues. Sectors like logistics, transport, e-commerce, delivery, entertainment, health and wellness, urbanism, security, and civic engagement, or energy and the environment are full of challenges that need to be dealt with.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
